New Delhi, Nov. 17 -- When a message landed in her school WhatsApp group on November 11, informing parents that classes for students up to Class 5 would now run in hybrid mode, Pinki Soni thought she had a plan. With only one smartphone at home, she decided her younger child, a Class 2 student of Mayur Vihar's Premchand Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya, would study online, while her Class 5 daughter would go to school. But by the end of the day, no online link had arrived. "A day passed after the notification and the link for online classes weren't shared on the group. When I asked the teacher, he said classes will start once they get instructions from higher-ups, and shared a few simple assignments for students," Soni said. The next morning...